Novel pulled from bookshops after Muslim protest

The Serbian publisher of Sherry Jones's controversial novel about the child bride of Muhammad has withdrawn the book following protests from an Islamic pressure group. Publisher BeoBook yesterday pulled 1,000 copies of Jones's The Jewel of Medina from bookshops across Serbia and apologised for its publication.

Last week Random House US dropped the book from its schedule after being warned by academics and security experts that it posed a potential threat worse than the publication of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses and the Danish publication of cartoons of Muhammad.

Serbia was the first country in the world to publish the book, bringing it out on August 1. BeoBook director Aleksandar Jasic has now confirmed that the novel was withdrawn from bookshops on Sunday August 17. "We have apologised and they [the group] have told me they accept the apology," he said. At a press conference today the group, known as The Islamic Community in Serbia, said it accepted Jasic's apology and that it would therefore cancel its plans for public protests over the book.

Writing for Serbian daily paper Blic in a piece to be published tomorrow, Jones said she was saddened and confused to hear that BeoBook had halted publication of the title "because of protests from some in the Serbian Muslim community". She writes: "When I learned only a few days ago that my book was being published in Serbia, I was impressed. BeoBook, a small publishing house in a country that had seen much strife, was more courageous, it seemed, than Random House, one of the biggest publishers in the world."

She added: "I was saddened on August 16 to hear that BeoBook publisher Aleksandar Jasic had halted publication of The Jewel of Medina because of protests from some in the Serbian Muslim community. And, to be honest, I was confused. Did these Muslims, after reading my book, really think I had 'degraded' Muhammad and Aisha? I'd thought I was doing the opposite. My intentions were to celebrate these great historical figures while dispelling misunderstandings about Islam."

British independent publisher Gibson Square has bought Sherry Jones's controversial novel about the child bride of Muhammad, which was dropped by Random House US after warnings that it could incite acts of violence from radical Muslims.